d
embarked on the San Antonio, which was the only ship he had in sailing
condition. In about a month Portola's land party reached the Point of
Pines, and there they found their cross still standing. According to
Laura Bride Powers, "great festoons of abalone-shells hung around its
arms, with strings of fish and meat; feathers projected from the top,
and bundles of arrows and sticks lay at its base. All this was to
appease the stranger gods, and the Indians told them that at nightfall
the terrible cross would stretch its white arms into space, and grow
skyward higher and higher, till it would touch the stars, then it would
burst into a blaze and glow throughout the night."

Suddenly, as they came back through the forest from the Point of Pines,
the thought came both to Crespi and Portola that here, after all, was
the lost bay of Vizcaino. In this thought they ran over the landmarks
of his description, and found all of them, though the harbor was less
important than Vizcaino had believed. Since that day no one has
doubted the existence of the Bay of Monterey.

A week later, the San Antonio arrived, coming in sight around the Point
of Pines, and was guided to its anchorage by bonfires along the beach.
The party landed at the mouth of the little brook which flows down a
rocky bank to the sea. On the 3rd of June, 1770, Father Serra and his
associates "took possession of the land in the name of the King of
Spain, hoisting the Spanish flag, pulling out some of the grass and
throwing stones here and there, making formal entry of the
proceedings." On the same day Serra began his mission by erecting a
cross, hanging bells from a tree, and saying mass under the venerable
oak where the Carmelite friars accompanying Vizcaino celebrated it in
1602. Around this landing grew up the town of Monterey.

At a point just back from the shore, near the old live-oak tree under
which the Padre rendered thanks, there has long stood a commemorative
cross. On the hill above where the Padre stood looking out over the
beautiful bay, there was placed one hundred and twenty years later, by
the kind interest of a good woman, a noble statue, in gray granite,
representing Father Serra as he stepped from his boat.

A fortress, or presidio, was built, and Monterey was made the capital
of Alta California. But the mission was not located at the town. It
was placed five miles farther south, where there were better pasturage
and shelter. This w